Winderman's view: Hawks 92, Heat 79

Chris Bosh was terrific, the jumper on as if it was midseason. And he did it against Al Horford, as close as you're going to come to a real center in the Eastern Conference.

Bosh left at the end of the third quarter on a point-a-minute pace.

LeBron James dunked a lot in the first quarter. Then he coasted.

James played the entire first quarter, with eight points, four rebounds and three assists, numbers he could have turned into a triple-double if he was so inclined.

He was not.

You know it's preseason when . . . Lou Williams blocks a LeBron shot in the post. It happened in the third quarter.

Shane Battier opened 2 for 2 on 3-pointers, picking up right where he left off.

It's not the regular-season starting lineup, but Battier starting at power forward basically shows Erik Spoelstra is planning to pick up where he left off.

Battier stepped in to draw a charge on Damion James in the first quarter. Now do the flopping police take over?

He then drew another Hawks foul in the paint in the opening period. No, he ain't afraid of no flopping police.

In fact, no one seemed to be bothered by the new anti-flopping edicts.

Then again, are they even in place in the preseason?

Not starting Ray Allen made sense, even in Dwyane Wade's absence, since Ray's role clearly will be as sixth man.

Allen's first basket with the Heat came on a . . . layup. But there's still a pretty good chance his first regular-season Heat basket will come from a somewhat greater distance.

Allen had three assists in his first three minutes, which is why Heat won't have to play with a point guard if they don't want to.

Bosh with the third-quarter 3-pointer off a feed from LeBron, because that's what Bosh does now.

Terrel Harris again showed he is not a point guard. Now the question is how much do the Heat value having an emergency third point guard on the roster.

Dexter Pittman did not look very good. He had three fouls in his first six minutes, a problem that seemingly isn't going anywhere.

The Juwan Howard pregame sighting in Heat warm-ups was interesting. For now, the Heat say he merely is "helping out," but administrative assistants rarely go through pregame workouts as Howard did prior to Sunday's game.

The officiating crew featured a female referee, Lauren Holtkamp, as the league works through tryouts in the preseason. Holtkamp is listed by the NBA as a "non-staff" official.

With Joe Johnson gone from the Hawks, the over-under on Josh Smith shots this season is a gazillion.

There is a reasonable chance the Hawks won't make the playoffs this season, particularly if the Cavaliers make continued growth.

The Heat were without Joe Anthony, Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem and Wade.